Middle School

Abstract: This excellent history relates the events leading up to WWII and is supported by several photographs and eyewitness accounts. It thoroughly describes the rise of Nazism and Hitler's program of genocide in a manner appropriate for younger students. The chronology of important dates and glossary are helpful tools for students.

Altshuler, David A. Hitler's War Against the Jews--the Holocaust: A Young Reader's Version of the War Against the Jews
1933-1945. West Orange, NJ: Behrman House, 1978.

Abstract: A simplified version of history for younger readers.

Bachrach, Susan D. Tell Them We Remember: The Story of the Holocaust. Boston, MA: Little Brown, 1994.

Abstract: The story of the Holocaust is told poignantly through history, illustrations and photographs.

Abstract: This is the only work written to date that focuses on non-Jewish victims of the Holocaust, such as Gypsies, Jehovah's Witnesses and other religious groups, and the physically and mentally disabled.

Rogasky, Barbara. Smoke and Ashes: The Story of the Holocaust. New York: Holiday House, 1988.

Abstract: Personal testimonies and narratives help to tell the story of the Holocaust and answer ethical questions.

Stadtler, Bea. The Holocaust: A Story of Courage and Resistance. West Orange, NJ: Behrman House, 1975.

Abstract: One of the first Holocaust books written for young people, this work focuses on Jewish resistance.

Abstract: This diary was written by a young teenager who fled from the Nazis with his family until they were all captured and sent to Auschwitz. The themes and issues touched upon in this victim's diary are more sophisticated than those in Anne Frank's journal.

Frank, Anne. The Diary of a Young Girl. New York: Pocket Books, 1953.

Abstract: Still one of the most read works in Holocaust literature, this classic account presents an eloquent picture of adolescence for a Jewish girl growing up during the Holocaust.

Fry, Varian. Assignment: Rescue. New York: Four Winds Press, 1968.

Abstract: A dramatic story of how an American helped thousands of Jews escape from southern France.

Abstract: Personal narratives of Christians, Gypsies, Jehovah's Witnesses, the physically and mentally impaired, homosexuals, and African Americans who suffered at the hands of the Nazis before and during World War II.

Hartman, Evert. War Without Friends. Translated from Dutch by Patricia Crampton. New York: Crown, 1979.

Abstract: A young Dutch member of the Hitler Youth wrestles with peer pressure, parental influence, and his own conscience.

Kahn, Leora and Rachel Hager, eds. When They Came to Take My Father. New York: Arcade Publications: Distributed by Little, Brown and Co.,1996.

Abstract: A poignant collection of fifty concise testimonials from Holocaust survivors illustrated with powerful black-and-white portrait photographs taken by Mark Seliger. The narratives emphasize the pain of their brutal experiences, and demonstrate how the combination of luck, courage, and determination allowed a few resilient individuals to survive the Holocaust and create new lives following the war.

Abstract: Ilse, a little girl with one Jewish grandparent, is six-years-old when the Nuremberg laws come into effect. Her world is suddenly turned upside down with the discovery of her non-Aryan roots.

Laird, Christa. Shadow of the Wall. New York: Greenwillow, 1990.

Abstract: Set in 1942 in the Warsaw ghetto, this novel features a boy living with his two younger sisters in Janusz Korczak's orphanage. (Janusz Korczak was a Jewish educator and physician who refused to save his own life when the Nazis gave him opportunity. Instead, Korczak chose to die along with his children in the gas chambers of Treblinka.)

Lowry, Lois. Number the Stars.
Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1989.

Abstract:
In 1943, during the German occupation of Denmark, ten-year-old Annemarie learns how to be brave and courageous when she helps shelter her Jewish friend from the Nazis.

Abstract:
In this novel, a young boy tries to remember what "normal life" was like before the Nazis came to power. The emphasis of the story is on how individuals struggled to survive in the midst of despair. Daniel takes his readers through a journey from his hometown, Frankfurt, Germany, to the Lodz ghetto, then to Auschwitz concentration camp. His story is the written version of the children's exhibit in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D. C.

Meltzer, Milton. Rescue: The Story of How Gentiles Saved Jews During the Holocaust.
New York: Harper & Row, 1988.

Abstract: Milton Meltzer presents some exciting and interesting tales of how Righteous Gentiles, at enormous risk to themselves, saved the lives of people targeted by the Nazis. The stories of Raoul Wallenberg and Oskar Schindler are recounted.

Abstract: Rosemarie, like Anne Frank, was deported with her family to the Westerbork transit camp and eventually to Bergen-Belsen. Unlike Anne, however, Rosemarie and most of her family survived. This novel is told in first person.

Nolen, Han. If I Should Die Before I Wake. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1994.

Abstract:
Sixteen-year-old Hilary, a neo-Nazi initiate, lies in a coma in a Jewish hospital after a motorcycle accident. As she drifts in and out of consciousness, she finds herself transported back to Poland at the outset of World War II, where she become Chana, a Jewish girl who experiences the full range of Holocaust horrors. As Hilary lives Chana's harrowing journey, she starts to rethink her own life.

Abstract: Forced to take refuge in an abandoned building in the Warsaw Ghetto, eleven-year-old Alex learns how to survive on his own. His father disappears one day, and Alex is left waiting for him. Winner of several awards.

Orlev, Uri. The Man from the Other Side. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1991.

Abstract: A non-Jewish boy living outside the Warsaw ghetto joins his stepfather in smuggling goods and people in and out of the Warsaw ghetto through the sewer system.

Ramati, Alexander. And the Violins Stopped Playing: A Story of the Gypsy Holocaust. New York: Franklin Watts, 1986.

Abstract: Mirga, a gypsy, tells of her experiences from 1942 to 1945, when she escaped from Nazis in Poland only to be caught in Hungary and sent to Auschwitz.

Reiss, Johanna. The Upstairs Room. New York: HarperCollins, 1990.

Abstract: Reiss tells the story of the years she spent hiding with her sister in the farmhouse of a Dutch family who protected them.

Richter, Hans P. Friedrich.
New York: Puffin Books, 1987.

Abstract: This autobiographical novel describes the friendship between two German boys, one Jewish and the other not, during the Nazis' rise to power.

Abstract: This memoir is told through a child's perspective and tells of Toll's eighteen months in hiding with her mother. The novel is accompanied by twenty-nine watercolor paintings created by Toll while in hiding.

Treseder, Terry Walton. Hear O Israel: A Story of the Warsaw Ghetto. New York: Atheneum, 1990.

Abstract: This book tells the story of how a family of Polish Jews lived in the Warsaw ghetto until they were deported to Treblinka.

Vos, Ida. Hide and Seek.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1981.

Abstract: In this award-winning novel, the young heroine, Rachel, tells how her family hid from the Nazis during the German occupation of Holland.

Middle School: Art and Poetry

Abstract: More than 350 works of art created by people who lived in ghettos, concentration camps and in hiding are presented, along with essays and biographical information. This artwork is an affirmation of the durability and insistence of the creative human spirit.

Green, Gerald. The Artist of Terezin.
New York: Schocken, 1979.

Abstract: More than 100 drawings and paintings.

Grossman, Mendel. With a Camera in the Ghetto. New York: Schocken, 1977.

Abstract: Compelling photos of everyday life in the Lodz Ghetto record the hardships and resistance of the inhabitants.

Abstract: A classic collection of poetry and sketches by children from the Thereseinstadt ghetto. Thereseinstadt was the model concentration camp used as a ploy to fool the world into believing that the horrible living conditions of Nazi extermination camps were merely rumor. In 1944, the inhabitants of Terezin were taken to Auschwitz and gassed. Among them were the children.